Sermon
From Cisterns to Springs
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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All right.
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Good evening.
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The sun's still shining.
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He must have knew we were talking about him this morning.
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Amen.
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Open your Bibles to John chapter four.
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John chapter four.
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You know, this artificial intelligence is coming around.
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One of these days, these clocks in churches like this one
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could have artificial intelligence.
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And I figured on, you know, if I said, this is such a beautiful
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clock, it is such a nice clock, it's so handsome and so forth.
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Name is sharp.
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Maybe it'll give you a little more time.
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What do you think?
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What do you think?
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I think preachers ought to invent something like that, don't
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you?
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John, chapter four.
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John, chapter four.
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It is amazing that the music that was being played here and the
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songs that we were singing, because that's exactly what I'm preaching
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on tonight.
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The longer you went, the more it kept coming about.
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And I thought, wow, this is amazing.
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John, chapter four.
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This is one of my favorite stories, the Bible.
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Have a hard time not preaching it often.
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And there's wrinkles in here to bring out off and on.
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And it's like the miracles of Christ.
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There's certain ones that are hard to stay away from.
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This one has a lot more to it.
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And just on the surface, just the story itself is outstanding.
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It's very moving, but with an Old Testament backdrop, it really
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sets it off because the writers of the New Testament write
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as though you know your Old Testament.
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And when you get that in your mind, your Bible reads differently.
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Because as you go through Matthew all the way through Revelation
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and you see these things pop up, you go, wow, that connects here
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and that connects here and connects here and so forth.
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And we try to do that in seminary, try to teach them the entire
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Bible from Genesis to Revelation.
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Their first year they study Genesis.
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Their last semester, their last year, they study Revelation.
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Brother Tunnel is a product of your investment out at the seminary.
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Jared Tunnell.
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And I can tell you a lot of stories about him.
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He pastored in his state, north here as associate pastor.
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I won't mention the state.
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I'm very humble.
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But anyway, look at John chapter 4.
John 4 chapter mention
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There's a word picture here.
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And this is a Holy Spirit word picture.
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This is one he set up years ago.
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I got over the idea, well, you know, this is kind of old time stuff.
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It's written several hundred years ago, several thousand years
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ago, as far back as you want to go.
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But the Holy Spirit knows It is 2026, amen.
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And when this story happened, he knew we'd be sitting here tonight
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and he knew that we needed to be spoken to.
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And recently I was asked my wife, how long ago it was around
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four or five years ago.
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When I asked my wife a question about dates, she always
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stop and she says, okay, when that happened, this was happening,
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and this was happening.
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And then she can tell me when it was.
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And she told me, well, Candy was still the secretary out at the
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seminary.
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And this, that, whatever.
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So I think about four years ago, we had that terrible ice storm.
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And I've used this illustration before.
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I've said to people, what if the water that you get your house
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wasn't very good?
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And I used to minister in a city where the little lake would
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turn over.
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And I don't care what you put in it.
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I don't care what you put in your tea.
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I don't care what you did.
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It just had a terrible odor.
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I won't say what city it was, but it's not too far from here.
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And it was just one of those things.
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And I didn't have to say anything.
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The locals said something about it.
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But when that ice storm came about four years ago or so, our water
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was literally unusable.
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Because, remember, it froze over.
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And all the water sources and the plants and everything shut down.
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And the water all through our house was horrible.
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And it had stuff in it.
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I mean, sticks and I mean grass and discolored.
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And people say, well, boil it.
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Boil it.
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Wouldn't do any good.
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And we were one of the last people to get water.
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Whatever our plant was out there north of us.
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We hadn't lived out there that long.
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We were the last persons to get normal water.
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It was terrible and so forth.
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So as we look at this story about the woman at the well.
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Let me just say something to you that we can relate to this.
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We take our water for granted.
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And there's a few times where I didn't take one for granted anymore.
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And this is a classic story.
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Let me.
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I'm not going to sing tonight, okay?
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Your music director asked me to sing.
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And Brother Clark begged me not to sing.
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Daniel Barker and I were going to sing a special.
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Somebody else walked in a little bit ago, I noticed.
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We used to sing some together.
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And he doesn't sing with me anymore.
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I don't know why.
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But anyway, listen to this.
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Now.
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There was a thirsty woman and she was drawing from a well all her
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life was ruined and wasted and her soul was bound for hell oh, but
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then she met the master and he told her all about her sins and he
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said, if you drink this water, you will never thirst again.
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There is a river that flows from deep within I got the joy, joy,
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joy, joy down in my heart Remember that.
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You just remember that song.
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That's all I'm singing.
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I'm under contract not to sing.
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There is a fountain and frees the soul from sin so come to this
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water There is a vast supply There is a river that never shall
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run dry It's a great song.
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I wish somebody could sing it, but I'm not going to even try.
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Father, bless the next several minutes and help us to open up and
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see this, what you gave us.
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It's just a great story.
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It's a great event.
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It really happened.
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And it happened just like it says it did here.
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Help us to enter into it and get the message.
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We pray these things in Jesus name.
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Amen.
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Let's get into the story and let's begin to make some applications.
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Okay?
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Verse 1, John, chapter 4.
John 4 chapter mention
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When, therefore, the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that
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Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John.
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Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples.
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He left Judea and departed again into Galilee.
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So he's headed up north, and he must needs go through Samaria.
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Now, anytime you read this, people always stop and pause there.
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And you have to, you need to.
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Because if anything, Christ showed us he didn't come just for
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the Jews, okay?
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He came for the half Jews, so to speak, and half Gentiles, Samaritans,
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roughly, according to that.
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There's a lot of history, the Assyrians coming in and shaking things
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up and leaving people behind.
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It was kind of a mixed group.
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And they were off with their religious concepts and so forth,
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as you know, as you're going to see here, fresh.
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But also he reached out obviously to the Gentiles completely.
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And I'm a Gentile.
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I'm glad he reached out to me.
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My wife's got a little Jewish blood in her, so I married her just
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in case, you know, just in case.
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Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar,
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near to a parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
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You can go back and read about that in Genesis, where he actually
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gave him this parcel of ground.
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Jacob did, when Joseph got back in the land and so forth and
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reunited with the family and connected, you know, even though
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he went back and forth, he had that place for the inheritance of
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his family.
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Because, remember, he was taken out of this picture for a while.
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There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.
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Now, as we go through here, watch for water.
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Well, thirsty, anything that has to do with water.
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It just starts jumping off the page.
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What this is stressing more than anything else.
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It's stressing water.
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Well refreshment.
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Just kind of watch for this.
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Anything has to do with water.
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Let's see how it jumps off the page.
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And again, by itself, it's fantastic.
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It's just a great story, but it really connects, as you're going
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to see in a few minutes.
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And so she comes there to draw water, and it says, jacob's well
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was there.
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Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus
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on the well.
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And it was about the sixth hour, that's high noon.
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There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water.
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Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink.
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Now, again, let me sup up the things.
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You know, it wasn't really appropriate per se, in their way
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of thinking.
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It wasn't immoral.
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It was just kind of a cultural thing that you didn't necessarily
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talk to a woman by yourself in this situation, especially the way
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you would frame this woman at this time in her life.
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And he's a Jew, he's talking to a Samaritan, and he's looked upon
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even as a rabbi, so to speak.
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Not in the official sense, but in the real official sense, because
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he's God of the universe.
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Amen.
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And so for him to be talking to her in that situation says a lot.
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And it tells you and I that obviously Jesus valued womanhood.
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Look at the women in Jesus ministry.
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Amen.
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And so he's got this interaction, and it says, his disciples
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are gone away into his city to buy meat.
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Now, there's meat, physical meat, and there's spiritual meat.
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There's physical water, and there's spiritual water.
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And we might have a tendency to say, well, that physical water
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is pretty important.
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I mean, I'm for the spiritual, but that physical water is pretty
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important.
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Can I jump ahead and just tell you something right now?
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You are primarily physical, but you are secondarily spiritual.
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You have a terrestrial body at the resurrection, ultimately you
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will have a celestial body that's primarily spiritual and secondarily
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physical.
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Now, what all that means, I don't know.
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Okay?
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But it's in First Corinthians, chapter 15.
1 Corinthians 15 chapter mention
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The angels are like that.
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The resurrected body that Jesus had could appear and disappear,
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etc.
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That's where you're headed.
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This is a tabernacle.
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We're talking this morning.
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This is a temporary house.
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I am glad that this is a temporary house.
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When I was these young people's age, it didn't mean much
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to me.
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Okay?
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But it means a whole lot to me right now, since I turned 39.
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All right, look what it says here.
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Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, how is it thou,
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being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?
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The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
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Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift.
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The gift.
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Now listen, this is Jesus talking.
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I don't think I can hype this enough.
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I don't think I can make too much of this.
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This is Christ teaching.
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He's using an object lesson.
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You may not have a well in your backyard.
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You may have a well, okay?
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But this is Christ talking.
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And you know, right now we're 75.
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80.
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80% water.
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You know how important water is to our universe, by the way, how
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many have ever had pre flood water?
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Daniel Barker and his wife have had pre flood water.
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I know that.
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How many have ever had pre flood water?
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All water is pre flood water.
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Amen.
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Am I right?
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Is God making new water?
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Is there a hydrological cycle?
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Does water disappear?
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No.
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Are you listening?
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Okay, I'm trying to get you hooked, trying to get you to ask
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me to Brother Stu.
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Don't stop at seven, okay?
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But anyway, keep going.
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And it says here, if thou knewest the gift of God and who it
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is that is so key, because she's going to find out.
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And she comes to it slowly, as you'll see.
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And who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest
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have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
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That's Old Testament warning, by the way, who wrote the Old Testament?
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The person talking to her God, who at sundry times in divers manner
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spake of the fathers by the prophets, hath his last days spoken
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to us by his Son.
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Christ was their subject.
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And Christ, the spirit of Christ, according to Peter, was the
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writer of the Old Testament.
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A lot of times the Old Testament writers did not fully understand
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everything they were writing.
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That's what Peter tells us.
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Now look at the next verse.
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The woman saith him, sir, thou hast nothing to draw with.
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And the well is deep.
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That's why it's still got water in it.
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You're going to find out.
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It's Jacob's well.
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And this is a few years after Jacob had lived.
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This is about 2000 years after Jacob had been on the earth.
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And it's still a great source of water.
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It's one thing to look down there and there's some water down
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there.
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And you Say, you know, at one time, this was a really good well.
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Drop that candle down there and look.
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See that?
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At one time, it was still a wonderful source of water.
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It had a spring down below it.
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They tell us they don't know exactly where it was, but most people
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think, as I understand it, they know where it is today.
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And it still has water, very deep, because it was so deep and
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it had a source.
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Did I say it was deep?
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I want to tell you tonight about the deepest well there is,
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deeper than this one I touched on this morning.
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And the well is deep.
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From whence hast thou that living water?
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You can't give me water out here.
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You don't have anything to get it with.
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Art thou greater than our father Jacob?
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You remember when Jacob and Jesus wrestled all night?
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Why do you think they wrestled all night?
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How long do you think it would have taken Jesus to put him in a
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full Nelson scissor hold and a headlock?
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How long do you think could have gone on?
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They wrestled all night.
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Because Jacob's just still, after all he's been through with
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Uncle Laban, he's going to face his brother, everything going
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on.
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He's still got a little bit of, I got to do this.
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I've got to figure out something.
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He's got that offering going out there.
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He's got his wives bowing down and so forth, and he's just.
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You got to bring him to the end of himself.
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And I could just hear Jesus say, well, maybe a little.
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Maybe a little greater than Jacob.
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Jacob's name was changed to Israel.
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You know who the greater Israel is?
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Jesus Christ.
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He's the one who has power with God and with man.
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That's what Israel means.
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He is ultimately Israel.
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You can read that in Isaiah where it switches back and forth
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between Israel, the nation, and Israel is Christ.
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And it says, which gave us.
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Which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his children
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and his cattle.
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Jesus answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh this water
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shall thirst again.
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He didn't say, yes, I'm greater than Jacob, but she's onto
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something.
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I mean, he's claiming something pretty amazing.
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So she's, you know, she's picking up on something.
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But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall
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never thirst.
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But the water, the water, the thirst that drinketh the water, the
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well, the water shall never thirst that I shall give him shall
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be in him.
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Shall be in him.
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In him.
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I'm looking at a bunch of wells tonight.
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W E L L S. Okay.
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I know how to spell whale.
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Okay.
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With an S. Okay.
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Now watch this.
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Shall be in him.
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A well of water springing up.
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Now, it's one thing to have a well of water.
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It's another thing to have a pump that brings it up.
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My wife and I, we were in Oklahoma visiting a church up there,
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one of our supporting churches some time back.
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And they had a park called Boiling Springs.
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You ever been to Boiling Springs in Oklahoma?
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You can talk to me afterwards.
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It's pretty cool.
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You can sit there and look and you see it boiling up and whatever.
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This is better than that.
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This is an artesian well he's describing.
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It's in him.
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It would be in him springing up into everlasting life.
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Now let's get something clear tonight.
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For.
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For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son
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that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but someday
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have everlasting life.
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Is that what it says?
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Not the King James Version.
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Okay.
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Has present tense.
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Everlasting life you have.
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If you're saved tonight, do you have life already?
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Everlasting, Yeah.
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I came to give you life more abundant.
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You have it now.
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This is what's got to happen.
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I grew up in church.
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I know what familiarity is to the Bible.
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I know what familiarity is to the hymns.
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I know what familiarity is to Bible stories.
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I thank God that the Scriptures just keep opening up and
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they just kind of keep bubbling up, keep springing up, whatever.
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I remember when I first came out of school, I thought, I'm going
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to get those Bible stories that are tucked away here and there
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that people haven't really heard about, don't really know.
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And that's how I'm going to hold their attention.
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And as I got into the Bible, the stories I thought I knew, I was
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ice skating on them.
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I wasn't just splashing.
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There was nothing that warned me.
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I thought I knew them.
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I started breaking through the ice.
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Man, I get these stories now.
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I swim.
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I swim in them.
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The more you learn this passage, the more you learn this
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passage, the more you learn this passage.
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Next thing you know, you think, you know what.
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We've got to have more time to teach.
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We teach two and a half hours at the seminary.
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We take a ten minute break, but we hit two and a half hours.
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Then we have chapel and we go two and a half hours again.
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Sometimes we teach from seven to 1:10.
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Well, that's hard for me to do.
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I have trouble finding words.
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But anyway, it's not enough time when these guys Graduate after
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four years.
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I look at Daniel Barker and I think, Daniel got one more Daniel.
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One more class.
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Just one more class.
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That's the Bible.
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Amen.
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Methuselah was.
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If he would have had a Bible, he would have said, can I have one
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more year?
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Look what it says here.
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The woman said to him, sir, give me this water that I thirst
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not, Neither come hither to draw.
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I don't know what she's thinking totally, but she's thinking,
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still physical water.
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And she has to go out there at the high noon because other women
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don't want to be around her.
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You know the story.
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We'll touch on it.
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They don't want to be around her.
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And she's coming at high noon.
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And it's the heat of the day when it's hot during that time.
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And that land at this time is pretty barren.
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It's pretty, pretty dry.
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And she said, boy, it'd be great not to come here and get that
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water and carry it back and so forth.
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And wow, if it could do that for me, that'd be fancy.
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Jesus answered.
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Jesus saith to her, now watch how Jesus witnesses.
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He's already shown her respect.
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He's already been very kind to her.
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And he drops the law down in front of her.
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The Bible says the law is like a mirror.
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James says, it's like a mirror.
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When I look in the mirror of God's law, I think, amazing grace,
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how sweet.
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You thought I was going to sing, didn't you?
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Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
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Wonderful grace of Jesus.
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Marvelous grace.
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I look at myself against the law, and I think, wow, that hairline
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is not even receding anymore.
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It's gone.
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I look at that mirror.
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I look in the mirror of God's word.
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And I remember we talked about this morning.
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You know this.
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We are accountable for our thought life.
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The tenth Commandment says, thou shalt not covet.
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Think about that.
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That's how holy God is.
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We talked about this morning.
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Psalm139.
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He knows our thoughts before we have them, man.
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He dropped the law down in front of her.
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He says, go get your husband.
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I mean, if I got living water, why don't you?
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Not just you, but go get your husband.
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Now, did Jesus know she didn't have a husband?
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Yes, he knew she didn't have a husband.
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Did Jesus know that she was living with somebody?
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Yes, he knew that.
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He'd say, lady, you know, I hope you're impressed that I'm talking
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to you.
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You know, I am a Jew.
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I'm pretty highly respected.
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And, yes, I'm greater than Jacob.
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And if it doesn't flatter you that I'm.
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Is that how Jesus talked to her?
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No.
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What we do or do not do does not determine our worth.
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I got a list of 25 things out of Genesis 1 that the Holy Spirit
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shows us why God values us.
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I'm not going to go into them, but he did only make one man.
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He made the animals in mass.
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Then he made one man.
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And he didn't call them into existence like he did the animals.
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He formed him.
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And it's almost like.
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I don't know.
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I don't know how literally we're supposed to take this.
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I can't wait to get him and find out about some of this stuff.
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But it's almost like he made this clay sculpture because it says
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that the midst of the ground came up and he formed men, the dust
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of the earth.
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And then it says he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
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He didn't do that with the animals.
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And man became a living soul.
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He made him last.
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All this was made for Adam.
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Everything was made for Adam.
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Somebody tell that about the people that are upset about the beached
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whales.
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I mean, I don't want a beached whale to suffer, but I think humans
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are a little more important than a beached whale.
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You see how we get all the way from the Bible, how we get wacky.
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I mean, wacky.
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This woman, to a lot of people was just, okay, fine.
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Jesus values her as much as anybody else.
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Not just because he's a wonderful God, because we don't get
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our value for what we do or do not do.
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Amen.
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Do you think there's rejoicing in heaven?
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The thief on the cross got saved.
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Absolutely.
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Isn't it going to be neat to meet some of these people in heaven?
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Wow.
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Now watch here.
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He said, go and call thy husband.
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And she reached over and got her cell phone, and she was trying
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to cover it up.
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She reached and said, well, you know what?
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My battery's low.
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I don't think I can call him.
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Is that what she did?
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No, look what she said.
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I have no husband.
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She's excited.
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She's got this look on her face.
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Give me this water.
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Give me this water.
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I mean, you know that she clings that fast.
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She's.
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She is thirsty.
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She's thirsty.
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And she says, give me this water.
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And he says, well, go call your husband and come hither.
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Then you see, her account is changed.
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I have no husband.
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Jesus said at her Thou hast Well said.
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For thou hast had five husbands.
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And he whom thou now hast is not thy husband.
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In that saidst thou truly?
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I think she probably thought Jesus would get up now and just say,
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see you later.
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He didn't.
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Do you feel like you're there watching this?
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That's what you need to feel.
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You know, years ago, people used to watch radio and people used
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to read books and they'd see what they're reading.
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We got so much of this in this.
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Well, I guess I got to read my Bible.
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Why don't you teach your kids how to read?
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And get all that media away from them.
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Let them develop their brain and imagination.
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Amen.
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Look what it says here.
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For thou hast had five husbands.
-
Look at verse 19.
-
The woman said unto him, sir, I perceive.
-
I love that word perceive.
-
Looking past the fog and the confusion, I perceive thou art a
-
prophet.
-
Getting warmer.
-
Get warmer.
-
He is a prophet.
-
Amen.
-
Moses said, a prophet.
-
Like unto me shall God raise up.
-
He is a prophet.
-
But, oh, he's not just a prophet.
-
He's a priest.
-
He's a king.
-
He's more than that.
-
He's a creator.
-
He's God.
-
God in the flesh.
-
She's talking to God.
-
Don't you wish you could talk to God?
-
Wouldn't that be cool if you could?
-
Wouldn't that be something if you could talk to God?
-
Amen.
-
If I'm stone.
-
If I'm a stone cold fake, what I'm saying is still true.
-
What sayeth the Scriptures?
-
Amen.
-
If I walk out of here and I am just a totally different personality.
-
What sayeth the Scriptures?
-
She is talking to God.
-
He has all the time in the world.
-
For, by the way, when you got saved, the same thing was happening.
-
Amen.
-
Did he not talk to you?
-
Did the Holy Spirit not make your sin so real that it bothered
-
you?
-
Did he not reveal to you that there's only one possible Savior?
-
That God you sinned against came down here and fixed it.
-
And when Christ rose to the dead, God was saying, I'm satisfied.
-
Isaiah 53 says, he shall see the travail of his soul.
-
Not just the physical, but even the soul shall be satisfied.
-
Amen.
-
When you get to heaven, God's not going to have a chip on his shoulder.
-
Remember the prodigal Son?
-
There was two of them, by the way.
-
One stayed and one went away.
-
One represented the religious group that was fake, the Pharisees,
-
etc.
-
The other one represented the sinner who'd gone astray when he
-
Came home.
-
What did his dad do?
-
Ran out to meet him.
-
Jesus is trying to clarify to those religious leaders, you got
-
the wrong idea of God.
-
I don't like you talking about my Father that way.
-
I want you to understand that's not him.
-
Amen.
-
How would you like to have this kind of conversation with Christ?
-
Oh, by the way, what's better than miracles?
-
Keep going.
-
Our fathers worship in this mountain, she says, and you say that
-
in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
-
Jesus saith unto her, woman, believe me.
-
Here's a key coming up.
-
Believe me.
-
The hour cometh when you shall, neither in this mountain nor
-
yet at Jerusalem, worship the father.
-
Watch this.
-
Ye.
-
Worship the Father.
-
You know not what.
-
By the way, notice he says ye.
-
You got a King James Bible.
-
Ye is plural.
-
The is singular.
-
So he's not just talking to her, he's talking to all Samaritans.
-
You mean well, but you got it all mixed up.
-
You're worshiping the wrong mountain and you're worshiping the
-
wrong ideas about God and salvation, etc.
-
The word ye means he's not just talking to her.
-
I like this Bible.
-
It was here when I got here.
-
It'll be here when I'm not here.
-
The other ones, they keep twisting around.
-
They get some big faculty now to take the New American Standard
-
and make it the Legacy Bible, which I appreciate.
-
There's a lot of good men involved in that.
-
But you know what?
-
They were starting to lose traction with the esv, okay?
-
They still don't have it like this.
-
I'm sorry.
-
That rabbit ran across here and I didn't want to shoot him, but
-
I wanted to at least call attention to him.
-
Okay?
-
Watch what he says here.
-
For salvation is of the Jews.
-
It's not just for the Jews.
-
It's not just for the Jews.
-
It's not just for the Jews, but it's of the Jews.
-
The world's all mixed up tonight, folks.
-
The world is all mixed up here and there.
-
They're mixed up.
-
God set aside the Jews like he sets aside a preacher.
-
And God works in that preacher's life.
-
And God does things and works him and deals with him and does this
-
and brings him along and does this and does that so he can make
-
truth known.
-
Israel was set aside to show the world what God was like.
-
How did Israel do?
-
Absolutely perfect, right?
-
Just like we're doing during the church age.
-
I'm afraid the rapture is going to happen tomorrow because
-
we've reached.
-
I think we've reached everybody.
-
Haven't we?
-
God doesn't love the Jew more than he loves you.
-
Okay, now watch.
-
I get all mixed up.
-
Now look what it says here.
-
Here's the key.
-
But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship
-
the Father in spirit and in truth.
-
There's coming.
-
There's a big shift here.
-
He said, waters, waters, Moses.
-
Notice the emphasis on the inward.
-
When you worship in spirit, it means you're worshiping in an inward
-
way.
-
In the Old Testament, had all these outward pictures, all these
-
outward illustrations.
-
You can call them types, sometimes you can call them previews.
-
You can call them inferences, whatever.
-
But Abraham at one time looked like God the Father.
-
And Isaac looked like God the son of Mount Moriah.
-
David going down the valley of Elah, taking out Goliath.
-
He was sent by his father.
-
He's the anointed king that's not yet ruling yet.
-
Sound familiar?
-
Anointed king, not yet ruling it sent by his father.
-
Does that sound like anybody you know?
-
For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son.
-
He takes the sling and slings it.
-
You remember when you guys were in that strip center and I was
-
going to do that sling and I was a lot taller then, and I couldn't
-
swing like this.
-
I hit the ceiling and probably hit myself in the head.
-
You remember that?
-
Those are pictures of Christ.
-
They actually happen.
-
But the Holy Spirit Bible says these things are written for our
-
learning.
-
And the Bible says these things happen in 1 Corinthians 10
-
and Romans 15, verse 4.
-
These things happen for us, you and I, tonight.
-
The Jews never carried around 39.
-
You didn't go to a home.
-
And a Jewish family had 39 scrolls in their home.
-
You got the whole Bible in your lap.
-
We've only been able to do that for about 400 years.
-
Now you have the whole Bible in your lap.
-
We are 6,000 years of human history.
-
We have the completed revelation of God.
-
We have the whole Bible right here.
-
In fact, I have more than one.
-
And I'm not done yet.
-
I don't mean preaching, buying Bibles.
-
Now watch.
-
I'm not belittling you.
-
I'm just saying, folks, familiarity can be such a blessing
-
and such a curse.
-
Okay?
-
When they quit working on the highways, thank God.
-
When they quit working on highways, they start to look right
-
again.
-
They get to mess with these highways and these exit.
-
I don't even know where I am.
-
Familiarity is nice, but it can also hurt you very bad.
-
Now watch.
-
And it says here, God is spirit and they that worship him
-
must worship him in spirit and in truth.
-
The Old Testament pictured the outward, the physical and the temporal
-
because it pictured the inward, the spiritual, the eternal.
-
The New Testament, folks, there's not another Testament.
-
Don't cut that coupon out of that little publication in the newspaper.
-
There's not a Third Testament.
-
Jesus Christ is the New Testament.
-
And you cannot add to or take away from him.
-
He's the A to Z.
-
He's the Alpha and Omega.
-
He's the fullness of God.
-
Bodily dwelleth all the fullness of God in Him.
-
Bodily.
-
Jesus said, you've seen me, you've seen the Father, which means
-
they are fully God.
-
Watch that.
-
Inward, there's a woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh,
-
which is called Christ.
-
She's looking at him.
-
She's looking at God.
-
She's looking at Christ.
-
Now, her concept of Messiah is a little off.
-
When he has come, he will tell us all things.
-
Notice she said, he'll tell us all things.
-
Messiah comes.
-
He'll tell us all things.
-
By the way, has Messiah come?
-
Has Messiah come?
-
Where would we be tonight if he hadn't come?
-
We would be anywhere.
-
Now this.
-
I'm sure I've preached on this before, but I'm sorry, it's just
-
one of those things people get excited about.
-
Our long brown piece of leather, it's got official football
-
stamped on it.
-
It's got a black bladder and it's full of hot air.
-
If it's a place kicker, they let some air out.
-
Look.
-
Look at that egg go through the air.
-
For the 10,000 times, some guy made a pretty good cat.
-
Okay, this is 10,000 times more exciting.
-
It's hard to contain myself.
-
It's just I almost went to that stuff once, but First Corinthians
-
13.
-
Don't turn there.
-
Just when I became a man, I.
-
And I watch.
-
You ever heard somebody say you could hear a pin drop?
-
That usually means if you have a straight pin, you drop it.
-
When it hits the ground, you can actually hear it.
-
This is so quiet.
-
When he says what he's going to say, you can hear the pin going
-
through the air.
-
I think birds stopped in mid flight.
-
What are you talking about?
-
Look, she.
-
I mean, by the way, does he have her attention?
-
Oh, yeah.
-
She is glued in.
-
I don't know if they even had glue back there, but she's glued
-
in.
-
He will tell us all things.
-
Jesus saith unto her, I that speaketh unto thee am I He?
-
I love bottle rockets.
-
When I was a kid, I Don't want to make sure I'm unbending over when
-
I lit him.
-
You remember how fast you were when you were a kid?
-
Don't be stupid with fireworks, okay?
-
I'm not gonna tell stories because I've been rebuked by parents.
-
When I first got in the ministry, I told all these childhood
-
stories.
-
The mother said, brother Stewart, Pastor, quit telling little
-
stories.
-
I said, why?
-
Our kids are going out there and doing them.
-
I was mowing people's yards for free.
-
I was scraping off snow on the sidewalk and stuff.
-
I would have sometimes a firecracker or a bottle rocket where
-
the fuse didn't quite work.
-
And I was so quick, I could touch that punk on that little bit
-
and jump away.
-
She goes off like a Roman candle.
-
Look at this.
-
Excuse me.
-
A Samaritan Campbell candle.
-
Camel candle.
-
All right.
-
Clock.
-
This says 5, 6, 51.
-
That says 654.
-
What's the joke?
-
What's the joke?
-
All right, here we go.
-
I didn't touch it.
-
I didn't touch it.
-
Artificial intelligence.
-
You are a beautiful clock.
-
And upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked.
-
See, look at that.
-
I love that.
-
Because you don't realize how special this is.
-
And they come.
-
They, what's he doing?
-
Hey.
-
It was that way with Jesus.
-
Every day you have every day was marvel.
-
They marveled.
-
They came and marveled that he talked with the woman.
-
Yet no man said, what are you doing?
-
What seekest thou?
-
Or why talkest thou with her?
-
They didn't say it, of course.
-
Jesus knew what they were thinking.
-
He was God.
-
Many times the Bible says he knew their thoughts.
-
The woman then left her water pot.
-
Let's ask Johnny Pope about that one.
-
And went her way to the city and saith to the men, come see a
-
man which told me all things I ever did.
-
Is not this the Christ?
-
Then they went out of the city and came unto him.
-
In the meanwhile, his disciples prayed him, saying, master,
-
eat.
-
But he said, I have meat to eat that you know not of.
-
Now we're talking about a spiritual sustenance besides water.
-
Therefore, said the disciples to one another, have any brought
-
with them ought to eat.
-
Brought.
-
Any man brought him ought to eat.
-
Somebody bring him something to eat before we got here.
-
These guys are sometimes a little slow to catch on.
-
Kind of like I was for years and probably still am more than I
-
realize.
-
Jesus saith to them, my meed is to do the will of him that sent
-
me and to finish his work.
-
Say not ye.
-
There are yet four months and then cometh the harvest.
-
Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields,
-
and they are white already.
-
To harvest.
-
On and on it goes.
-
And here come the Samaritans.
-
And a bunch of them get saved.
-
And a bunch of them come and say, well, we heard you, but we don't
-
believe because you told us.
-
We've come because we've seen it ourselves.
-
There's a tremendous thing.
-
And you keep reading.
-
He stayed there after that.
-
He went to Samaria.
-
He stayed there a couple of days.
-
It's going to be kind of fun to get to heaven to see all these
-
Samaritans that got saved.
-
Amen.
-
Now, in the two or three minutes I have remaining in about
-
10 passages of scripture, I want you to quickly go to Deuteronomy
-
chapter number eight.
-
Deuteronomy, chapter number eight.
-
I'm going to jump over this and just kind of tell you I was hoping
-
to have time to hit all these things, but there's just no way.
-
But I can get this across to you.
-
I just.
-
You have to get into this story because it's a familiar story,
-
and I know I can get kind of silly sometimes.
-
It's just trying to use all your emotions to key you in.
-
And I know your ears are tired from this morning, so I just had
-
to do everything I could.
-
But here's what I want you to see.
-
In Deuteronomy, chapter 8, listen to this statement.
Deuteronomy 8 chapter mention
-
In Deuteronomy 6, 8 and 11, you have Moses describing the promised
-
land.
-
Most of you know that the promised land does not picture heaven.
-
Aren't you glad when we get to heaven, we're not going to fight
-
people.
-
Okay?
-
All right.
-
The walls of Jericho coming down, That's God tearing down strongholds
-
in our life.
-
It's just amazing.
-
Corinthians, chapter 10.
-
The word pictures are just outstanding.
-
That promised land.
-
This is so key pictures.
-
The Spirit filled New Testament life.
-
Joshua took them into the land.
-
Moses got them to the land.
-
Moses got them up, ready to go toward the land, per se.
-
But Joshua got them there.
-
They crossed the river, and they put stones in the river.
-
And they put stones for 12 tribes on the resurrection side of
-
the river.
-
And they go in.
-
It's a picture.
-
Christ is our greater Joshua.
-
It's laid out in Hebrews.
-
Moses brought him this far by his life and death.
-
Joshua pictures Christ at his resurrection and his ascension.
-
Chapter three says in Joshua that I'm going to magnify you in
-
the eyes of the people, so they'll follow you like they did
-
Moses.
-
And then chapter four, the Bible says, and God magnified Joshua
-
the eyes of the people.
-
Then Joshua met Christ dressed as him, the captain of the Lord's
-
host.
-
This is who you picture Joshua.
-
Okay, so you and I live in the promised land.
-
By way of analogy.
-
That's the New Testament program.
-
Look at Deuteronomy chapter 8.
Deuteronomy 8 chapter mention
-
Look what it says here.
-
Alright, did I give you enough time to find it?
-
I forgot to turn there myself.
-
Beautiful clock.
-
This is a really sharp clock.
-
Okay, now look down here.
-
Look at verse number 7, Deuteronomy 8, 7.
-
The reason I'm choosing this one, because all three describe them,
-
but this one has some special wording.
-
For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of
-
brooks of water.
-
And that's good.
-
Brooks of water, that's wonderful.
-
Brooks of water are nice.
-
And of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills.
-
Other words, you got wells in the promised land that literally.
-
Artesian wells.
-
Now he's going to tell them you have wells that you did not dig.
-
There's wells that you did not dig.
-
They're there, they're yours.
-
And thank God that God meets our physical needs.
-
Amen.
-
I mean, you can tell that I'm a little bit challenged on physical
-
needs, but I'm, you know, I wore this coat because I think it
-
makes me look like I got a little bit more bodily structure.
-
If I turn sideways, can you even see me?
-
Okay, he takes care of our physical needs.
-
But there's spiritual wells.
-
If it's coming up out of the ground, it's coming up deeply.
-
You don't have pressure with this side of the surface.
-
These are deep wells.
-
They're deep wells.
-
The Holy Spirit comes inside of you to live.
-
You are a temple.
-
Turn to John.
-
Well, I'll tell you what.
-
Well, let's go ahead and turn.
-
Turn to John chapter seven.
-
I got to shut this down.
-
We're getting to where I'm.
-
There's a lot of other verses.
-
Look at John chapter seven.
-
He said, well, what is this talk about exactly?
-
John chapter seven.
-
Jesus is speaking here.
-
Look at verse number 37.
-
So he's talking about this water.
-
We're in the promised land, we're telling you.
-
And there's these artesian wells and this is the New Testament
-
program.
-
It's a spirit filled life.
-
Christ said, I came to give you water, living water.
-
He says that in other places.
-
In the gospel.
-
John chapter 6, I think verse 35, he says that.
John 6 chapter mention
-
Look at John chapter 7, look what it says.
John 7 chapter mention
-
Here in the last day, that great day, the feast.
-
This is a particular feast where water was abundant.
-
Here and there Jesus stood and whispered, pulled a few people aside
-
and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and
-
drink.
-
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said Old Testament
-
prophecies.
-
I'll have you turn there and I'll shut this down.
-
Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
-
Say wow.
-
Out of his belly, his inward parts inward.
-
Spirit and truth.
-
Deep, deep.
-
The deepest well in the world is your heart.
-
The Holy Spirit came inside there to live.
-
He lives within.
-
Amen.
-
Now listen, we've heard all this.
-
This is why we have these stories.
-
Because there's something about stories.
-
It's something about the human element.
-
And we look at it, we back up and think again, and we start really
-
thinking about God's word.
-
Isaiah 12, write that down.
-
Prophesying about the New Testament, Isaiah said, you shall
-
draw water and out of the wells of salvation.
-
The Holy Spirit's full of blessings.
-
You shall draw water out of the wells of salvation.
-
Now, as I wrap this up, there were hand dug wells, there were cisterns.
-
Cisterns.
-
They would build cisterns.
-
Jeremiah talks about how the Jews in a backslidden state were
-
not coming to God for the living water they had.
-
Okay, and he's talking about the future also.
-
But, but he also.
-
And he says, but you've got cisterns.
-
You've got these little things you've carved out so when it rains,
-
you save some rain water.
-
Can I tell you, today too many Christians are drinking from cisterns
-
rainwater.
-
And they leak and they're broken.
-
I mean, God sends rain and thank God, God sends physical blessings.
-
Amen.
-
Cause we are still physical.
-
Amen.
-
But brethren, We are a heavenly people still on this earth.
-
And we can get so heavenly minded.
-
We're no of earthly good, but most of the time we're too earthly
-
minded because we're no heavenly good.
-
And we have to work.
-
There's a lot of demands put on us.
-
And we have all kinds of things come across our path that
-
get us off track.
-
But thank God, if we get over being dizzy, we get over being this.
-
And that's why you just back up and say, okay, where am I?
-
You have the Holy Spirit living inside of you and you got
-
the joy, joy, joy, joy.
-
Doubt in your heart.
-
It was easy to see as a little kid because I wanted to get into
-
spanking.
-
I was usually pretty happy.
-
We had a little corner grocery store and you could buy candy bars
-
this big for a nickel.
-
You can get a pop for a nickel.
-
Then it was 8 cents.
-
Then it was 10 cents.
-
If you could find a bottle, you could trade it in for a pop.
-
I was in and out of the dentist chair constantly because
-
you could find candy nickels everywhere.
-
I mean, it was happy.
-
In spite of a lot of things going in my life, I could find a
-
lot of things to be happy about.
-
Brethren, we're adults.
-
We're adults.
-
Amen.
-
Sisters aren't going to get it done.
-
A little electric rain, three quick things, practical.
-
There's a radio station called 103.3.
-
I don't work for them.
-
I have prayed for years.
-
Brother Webby and I almost tried to start a radio station for
-
a while.
-
We were just playing nothing but good, solid Christian music.
-
Lyrics are more important than anything else.
-
And we were going to play this music and have it on so people could
-
just turn on whatever whatever.
-
But 103.3, it's got some preaching on there.
-
But like Tonight, tonight at 8:30, this woman plays these old
-
hymns, I think from 6:30, from 5:30 to 6:30.
-
When you're driving home and smiling as you drive down these roads,
-
I35 coming into 8:20 will never be good till the millennial
-
kingdom.
-
And this stop sign out at you guys out here on bond.
-
We sat there.
-
Was it this morning or tonight?
-
We sat.
-
There was nobody coming.
-
I thought the Rapture had happened.
-
And it's still red.
-
Both directions green.
-
Nobody coming.
-
I was going, oh, well, I'm calm.
-
It doesn't bother me.
-
What I'm saying to you is, you need.
-
We heard in Sunday School Colossians 3, a spirit filled life
-
is singing to himself in psalms and hymns.
-
I sing all the time.
-
That's my wife.
-
She shuts the door and puts cotton in your ears.
-
No, we're traveling.
-
We start singing.
-
You gotta sing.
-
You gotta get the good music.
-
You just gotta surround you.
-
Our world is so caustic.
-
It's so cynical, so critical.
-
You got to meditate on the Lord to use music.
-
We talked about that this morning.
-
Music.
-
The devil's taken music and practically ruined our nation.
-
Somebody said, I don't care who writes the laws.
-
Let me write the music.
-
Let me make the music, and I'll control that country, that nation.
-
We have wonderful heritage of hymns, and there's good songs being
-
written.
-
You need to have music, good music playing in your house.
-
Amen.
-
Am I right?
-
You go look at Ephesians.
-
It keeps your mind on the Lord.
-
And I tell you what, when I find a good hymn and I get a hymnal,
-
they're taking a verse out that bothers me, okay?
-
Number two, you've got to stay in church.
-
You got to stay in church.
-
This is the church age you have.
-
You don't come to church so God will be happy with you.
-
Number one, you need each other evermore.
-
So as you see the day approaching, I don't need to say
-
this, and I.
-
Man, I tell you what, I. Folks, I just honestly, when I stand
-
here, I go all the way back when this thing started, I go all
-
the way to the future of the rapture.
-
This is, this is a fantastic church.
-
I'm telling you, look at the flags.
-
God has done so much to this church.
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He's.
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I mean, just all kinds of things.
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And the church is people.
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Some of your most loved people, friends of me.
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They're in heaven in a sense, God's God.
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But would they be there?
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You got to be here.
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Amen.
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You need the fellowship, the holy.
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This is the Holy Spirit's temple.
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You're a temple.
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The church is a temple.
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Come and expect and pray.
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God's blessings are just around the corner.
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Amen.
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We know how life goes.
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Church.
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This is the church age.
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Stay in the boat.
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Come and be a blessing.
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If you come to be a blessing, you'll go home blessed.
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If you come to be blessed, It'll be a 50, 50 shot because everybody
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will shake their hands but me.
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And I did it by accident.
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I didn't mean I would have shaken.
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I would have shaken your hands, young man.
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If you'd come up to me, he says, whoop de do, am I right?
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I tell you, tired.
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I get up at five o' clock and I talk very slow and gently for five
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hours.
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I come home being 39 plus now, I was not a nap taker.
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I take naps on the way home.
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Driving, I get home, whatever, and sometimes about.
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If I'm not preaching, I'm not wired up.
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About six o' clock we head out the door and I get in there and you
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know what?
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I'm glad I'm there.
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I got people there that love me.
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There's only a few, but I got a few people that love me.
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Don't you love each other?
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I'm not coming down here as your parent.
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I'm just telling you folks, this has been one of the greatest
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churches I've ever known.
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It really has, brother.
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You've been around the block a few times.
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I've been in a lot of churches and I'M not saying this tonight because
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I'm insincere.
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You need each other.
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Love each other.
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Amen.
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We got all of heaven.
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And thirdly, you got to get in the Bible tablet works for me.
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As soon as I wake up, the King of Sodom is on one side of the bed
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and the King of Salem's over here.
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I tell him, get out of here.
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I don't want.
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I don't want a shoe.
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I don't want a shoestring.
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I don't want to latch it.
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And my first thoughts, I look up Psalm 5.
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I look up and I read a psalm.
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I've been studying Psalm 5 over and over now for over a month.
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I've read them through so many times now.
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I just stay in, camp out.
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I look up phrases.
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My king, my cry, my this, my that.
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Oh, he says this.
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I read and meditate.
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So it's inside of me.
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And I try to stay in touch with God all day.
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The flow.
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The flow.
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The river.
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The Holy Spirit's inside of you.
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And you know what I close with this.
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The joy.
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Joy, joy.
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Fruit of the Spirit.
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The product, Love.
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Joy.
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Longsuffering.
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That's putting up with people.
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Long suffering.
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That's that.
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Patience.
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Love, joy, long suffering, meekness, et cetera.
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Temperance.
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Folks, we have all we need.
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Romans chapter six.
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You got a brand new standing, you're in Christ.
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Romans chapter 7.
Romans 7 chapter mention
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You got a brand new state.
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You got a new nature.
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Romans chapter 8.
Romans 8 chapter mention
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You have the Holy Spirit.
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A spring, a strength, a source living inside of you.
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We got everything we need.
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We just can't go sucking water out of cisterns and thank God for
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hand dug wells.
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But that's not enough for us.
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We need that inner strength.
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Amen.
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Find out a way.
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Start with Psalm 27.
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The Lord is my light, my salvation.
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Whom shall I fear?
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The Lord is the strength of my life.
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Light Ridge.
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Darkness reveals details.
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It's a reference point.
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It raises attention and it radiates life.
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The Lord is my light.
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Amen.
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Amen.
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Let's all stand.
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I'm going to encourage you to come pray tonight for your church.
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Pray for yourself.
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Pray that God will give you a hunger, a thirst for the righteous
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God.
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I don't want to get into the Bible so you don't feel guilty.
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I just wanted you to see again what we've got.
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What we got.
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And listen, it is so much better than what I could say.
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I've done everything.
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I've been silly.
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I've thrown things at you.
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I just asked the Lord to lead something.
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Come upon my mind, I'd say no, don't say that.
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Yeah, I'm going to say that.
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Folks, listen to 103.3 and you go home tonight, you'll hear some
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good music.
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Say, I don't like that kind of music.
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You will if you listen to it long enough.
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Thank God for we finally got a Christian station here.
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They're not old hymns.
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They're hymns.
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The New Testament.
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2000 years old.
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It's not old.
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It can't get old.
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Bow your head, please, and just pray where you are and just
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ask the Lord to get you in the book and get some music going.
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Maybe you got your own music at home you can listen to.
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Go to the Internet and download a station where you have
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that stuff.
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Your house is your haven.
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Make it spiritual instead of interior decorating.
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Deuteronomy 6.
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Superior decorating.
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Your house is your haven.
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And don't miss church.
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Brother.
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Brother.